Wildcats triumph in home opener

Darrell Beaupre´
   After coaching eleven years together, competing in 143 games with a record of 85-44-14, and outscoring our opponents 554-359, the front office thought it might be a good time for a shift. So, they offered Coach Custer and me the opportunity to switch from jv2 to jv1. Although we dearly loved our “knuckleheads” and fondly remember our times together, we accepted the opportunity and have not regretted the change.
 
Yesterday, in an unseasonably cool and windy afternoon, our new squad headed down to Grenier field to play our season opener below the brand-new scoreboard. The boys were ready to see how they would do against their first competition: White Mountain School. As always, we didn’t know what to expect so we prepared for a solid game, and WMS did not disappoint.
 
   Even though we very recently learned that Mica McGinley-Smith and Yohan Do were on the Disabled List for the near future and Sam Lower was struggling with leg pain, we felt that we still had a strong and talented crew to put on the field.
 
As the game began, most of the play was in the first third of the WMS’s defensive end. Alisdair MacPhail joined our last year’s defensive squad of Will Haynes, Nick Wilder, and Cody Nguyen, and proved a strong asset. Six minutes in, John Erwin made a quick dash past their fullbacks and took our first shot on net. The keeper saved it and cleared it out, but a minute later we were up close again. Suddenly Trong Phan, who took control on the left side, sent a quick pass to Jonathan Li, who passed it over to Kohki Shinohara, who slid it over to an awaiting Bridger Close on the right side, who blasted it past the goal keeper and KUA was on the board.
 
   Over the next twelve minutes we saw another half-field drive up the far side by John and shots by Tom Huang, Cam Plume, and Cody, but each time either they went wide or the keeper made a nice save. WMS was starting to get into a rhythm and using their speed to their advantage. Twice Max van Dijk had to attack strikers, who were able to get behind our line, and dive in for the ball.
 
With sixteen minutes left in the half, Amir Lesbek created a mirror image of what Trong had done earlier. He brought the ball into the right corner before passing it to an attacking Tom. Tom passed left to Cam P., who then slid it to Kohki. This time though, Kohki placed a beautiful finesse shot into the corner for our second goal of the game.
 
   Although we have been coaching for many, many years, yesterday we saw something we’d never seen before. The goalkeeper was preparing to take a goal kick when Cam P. walked up and stood at the top of the box as a deterrent. The keeper kicked the ball directly at Cam’s head. Cam didn’t move out of the way but was able to redirect the ball with a beautiful header. It was a crazy sight and would only have been better if the shot had not gone slightly wide of the net. The keeper didn’t try it again.
 
   As the final minutes ticked down, we saw Tom work his way through four defenders before taking another shot, and Max earned two more good saves. Amir again got control of the ball on the outside and was able to get a pass in to Bridger who, after gaining control, sent a high shot into the far post to end the first half with a third point for KUA.
 
   Because several times we had seen our forwards playing with the ball too much in front of the net, Coach Custer and I stressed the need for shooting the ball. Apparently these boys actually listen to their coaches during the half time break because within the first few minutes Bridger blasted a shot from the top of the box that went high and then Brian Lee kicked a long ball from a good forty yards out (at first we thought it was a setup for a header) that continued over the keeper’s head and into the far top corner of the net. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
 
   We continued to play tenaciously, but WMS was not willing to give up. They made Max and our fullbacks work a bit harder in the second half; however, our defense continued to shut down all attacks and shots. Nick had a great second half and Cam Barton was also a strong presence in the midfield. We saw shots from Jonathan, John, Tom, Amir, and Evan Crandlemire. Even Sam Lower who was suffering from leg pain was able to take one last hard shot on the keeper before he was back on the DL.
 
   Overall, it was a great way for us to start our season. This Wednesday we face off against Brewster Academy at home and then travel up to White Mountain School on Saturday to see how we do on their home field.
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